The Oakland BART officer that was charged with second degree murder for the killing of Oscar Grant on New Year's Day 2009 was instead convicted of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter last week.
CNN reports that the Los Angeles jury's verdict in the Johannes Mehserle trial has brought out a lot of mixed emotions throughout the state of California. On one hand Californians are happy to see that the man will be spending time in prison for his actions, but some people are angry that the man wasn't convicted of the more severe second degree murder charge.
The trial was held in Los Angeles because defense attorneys argued that the defendant wouldn't receive a fair trial in Alameda County. During the trial, Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys argued that the killing of Oscar Grant was accidental and that Officer Johannes Mehserle meant to detain Oscar Grant by shooting him with a Taser. This argument probably played a large outcome in the jury's decision to choose the manslaughter charge over the murder charge.
Many people may not realize that there's a clear difference between manslaughter and murder under the law. Unlike murder crimes, manslaughter is a form of killing that does not have premeditation and malice behind the attack. According to LawBrain, voluntary manslaughter is the intentional killing of another human being, whereas involuntary manslaughter is the killing of another person when there's no intent involved.
CNN states that Johannes Mehserle now faces a two to four year prison sentence for the involuntary manslaughter conviction. Because the defendant was also found guilty of an enhancement charge for using a gun, a judge can also impose an additional term of three, four, or 10 years for the prison sentence. Johannes Mehserle's sentencing is scheduled for August 6.
Related Resources:
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Manslaughter: Involuntary - Criminal Law (FindLaw)
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BART Shooting Murder Charge (FindLaw's Common Law Blog)
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